1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to residential and commercial cleaning implements and, in particular, relates to collapsible handle cleaning implements such as brooms or mops and accessory systems therefore.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With real estate prices ever escalating, there has been an increasing trend for people to live in smaller homes and to work in smaller premises than was previously the norm. These smaller environments typically provide reduced storage space, especially for larger items. In a residential context, the traditional full height “broom closet” is now often found only in larger size homes and is often absent in smaller types of living accommodation such as condominiums, town homes, mobile homes and the like. As a result of the reduced amount of available storage area a premium is put on what storage areas exist, and as a result, numerous products have been introduced to take better advantage of these areas. These products include closet and cupboard organizers, cleaning utensils, and other implements designed to be stored in small spaces. Many cleaning implements employed in both residential and commercial contexts such as brooms, mops and dusters have full length handles and require a broom closet or other similarly sized areas which to store the implement when it is not in use. As storage space of sufficient size for these implements are increasingly more often not present, the implement is often stored in a coat closet or in a basement or often simply in the corner of a room. It would therefore be desirable to have a cleaning implement with a full length handle such as a broom, mops, dusters or the like that contained a collapsible handle means such that the implement could be stored in very small spaces such as in a cupboard or underneath the kitchen sink. This would also permit such cleaning implements to be stored in automobiles, mobile homes, boats and other vehicle, and or will as in any other application having limited storage space. It would also be desirable to have any normal accessories for such cleaning implements, i.e. a dust pan to be used in conjunction with the collapsed cleaning implement as a compact unit. This would provide even more efficient use of storage area as will as providing the user with added convenience.